* All pictures marked are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.

** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.

Description

Watermark:

HM The King Gustav VI Adolf (same as on obverse).

Avers:

Centered is a vignette with The King of Sweden Gustav VI Adolf. Around vignette is oak branch.

Gustaf VI Adolf (Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf; 11 November 1882 – 15 September 1973) was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death. He was the eldest son of King Gustaf V and his wife, Victoria of Baden, and had been Crown Prince of Sweden for the preceding 43 years in the reign of his father.

He was born at the Royal Palace in Stockholm and at birth created Duke of Scania. A patrilineal member of the Bernadotte family, he was also a descendant of the House of Vasa through maternal lines. Through his mother, Victoria, he was a descendant of Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden of the deposed House of Holstein-Gottorp.

In 1938 he was elected an honorary member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati.

On 29 October 1950, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf became king at age 67 upon the death of his father, King Gustaf V. He was at the time the world's oldest heir apparent to a monarchy (this in turn was broken by Charles, Prince of Wales on 2 November 2016). His personal motto was Plikten framför allt, "Duty before all".

During Gustaf VI Adolf's reign, work was underway on a new Instrument of Government to replace the 1809 constitution and produce reforms consistent with the times. Among the reforms sought by some Swedes was the replacement of the monarchy or at least some moderation of the old constitution's provision that "The King alone shall govern the realm."

Gustaf VI Adolf's personal qualities made him popular among the Swedish people and, in turn, this popularity led to strong public opinion in favour of the retention of the monarchy. Gustaf VI Adolf's expertise and interest in a wide range of fields (architecture and botany being but two) made him respected, as did his informal and modest nature and his purposeful avoidance of pomp. While the monarchy had been de facto subordinate to the Riksdag and ministers since 1917, the king still nominally retained considerable reserve powers. Even these nominal powers were removed when Sweden's constitutional reform became complete in 1975, thus making Gustaf Adolf the last monarch to wield even nominal political power.

The King died in 1973, ten weeks shy of his 91st birthday, at the old hospital in Helsingborg, Scania, close to his summer residence, Sofiero Castle, after a deterioration in his health that culminated in pneumonia. He was succeeded on the throne by his 27-year-old grandson Carl XVI Gustaf, son of the late Prince Gustaf Adolf. He died the day before the election of 1973, which is suggested to have swayed it in support of the incumbent Social Democratic government.[1] In a break with tradition, he was not buried in Riddarholmskyrkan in Stockholm, but in the Royal Cemetery in Haga alongside his two deceased wives. He was the last surviving son of Gustaf V.

The King's reputation as a "professional amateur professor" was widely known; nationally and internationally, and among his relatives. Gustaf VI Adolf was a devoted archaeologist, and was admitted to the British Academy for his work in botany in 1958. Gustaf VI Adolf participated in archaeological expeditions in China, Greece, Korea and Italy, and founded the Swedish Institute in Rome.

Gustaf VI Adolf had an enormous private library consisting of 80 000 volumes and – nearly more impressively - he actually had read the main part of the books. He had an interest in specialist literature on Chinese art and East Asian history. Throughout his life, King Gustaf VI Adolf was particularly interested in the history of civilization, and he participated in several archaeological expeditions. His other great area of interest was botany, concentrating in flowers and gardening. He was considered an expert on the Rhododendron flower. At Sofiero Castle (the king's summer residence) he created one of the very finest Rhododendron collections.

Like his sons, Prince Gustaf Adolf and Prince Bertil, Gustaf VI Adolf maintained wide, lifelong interests in sports. He enjoyed tennis and golf, and fly fishing for charity. He was president of the Swedish Olympic Committee and the Swedish Sports Confederation from their foundations and until 1933, and these positions were then taken over by his sons in succession, Gustaf Adolf until 1947 and then Bertil until 1997.

Gustaf Adolf married Princess Margaret of Connaught on 15 June 1905 in St. George's Chapel, at Windsor Castle. Princess Margaret was the daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of the United Kingdom.

King Gustaf VI Adolf and Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden had five children:

Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (22 April 1906 - 26 January 1947 (aged 40)), died in a plane crash at Copenhagen Airport, father of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

Princess Ingrid (28 March 1910 - 7 November 2000 (aged 90)), later Queen of Denmark; wife of Frederick IX of Denmark and mother of the present Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.

Crown Princess Margaret died suddenly on 1 May 1920 of an infection following surgery. At the time, she was eight months pregnant and expecting her sixth child.

Gustaf Adolf married Lady Louise Mountbatten, formerly Princess Louise of Battenberg, on 3 November 1923 at St. James's Palace. She was the sister of Lord Mountbatten and aunt of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It was Lady Louise who became Queen of Sweden. Both Queen Louise and her stepchildren were great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

His second marriage produced only one stillborn daughter on 30 May 1925.

While his first wife visited her native Britain in the early years of their marriage, it was widely rumored in Sweden that Gustaf Adolf had an affair there with operetta star Rosa Grünberg. Swedish vocalist Carl E. Olivebring (1919-2002) in a press interview claimed to be an extramarital son of Gustaf VI Adolf, a claim taken seriously by the king's biographer Kjell Fridh (1944-1998).

King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden was the grandfather of his direct successor King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and also of former Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.

Denominations in numerals are repeated three times, in words at the bottom.

Revers:

Centered is the personification of Sweden, Mother Svea, standing with spire and the shield with Swedish national emblem - three crowns.

Mother Svea or Mother Swea (Swedish: Moder Svea) is the female personification of Sweden and a patriotic emblem of the Swedish nation.

Mother Svea is normally depicted as a powerful female warrior, valkyrie or shieldmaiden, frequently holding a shield and standing beside a lion. In her hand is cornucopia.

Svea is a Swedish female personal name which derives from svea, an old plural genitive form meaning "of the Swedes" or the Swea. It appears in Svea rike, a translation of the old Swedish word Sverige, the Swedish name for Sweden.

The popular image is considered to have been created by Swedish writer, Anders Leijonstedt (1649-1725) when first introduced in his poem Svea Lycksaligheets Triumph (1672).

As a patriotic symbol, Moder Svea gained widespread popularity in Kunga Skald (1697), written by Swedish poet Gunno Eurelius (1661-1709) in honor of King Charles XI of Sweden. Eurelius was later ennobled with the name of "Dahlstjerna".

Mother Svea appeared frequently as a national symbol in XIX-century Swedish literature and culture. She appeared on various Swedish banknotes for over seventy years, such as both the 5-kronor banknote printed between 1890-1952 and the 5-kronor banknote printed between 1954-1963.

Above Mother Svea is the motto of Swedish Riksbank.

"Hinc robur et securitas" (Latin: For strength and security). The motto of the Swedish Riksbank. All banknotes from the 1890s and up until the 1963 had this motto on oberse. Between 1963 and 1986 there was only one hundred thousand bills that had the motto. Nowadays it is only five hundred bills and this is in the form of microtext. The purpose of the motto is to give confidence in the paper money issued by Riksbank. The Riksbank is the ultimate guarantor of the value of money.

Around vignette, on right and left sides, are the wheat and, lower, still unknown flowers.

Denomination in numeral is in top right corner.

Comments:

Invalid from 31 of December 1987.

Designer: Mark Sylwan.

Engraver: Albert Jorpes. (effigy of the King and Moder Svea).

Banknotes in 5 Kronor (type 1a), 1954-1956, have two small letters in the lower right corner, on the obverse, above the face value.

My banknote has the letters E M.

Color is purple ie. Just like one of the three guilloches colors. One well-known Swedish collector from Umeå came to the conclusion, that the left letter is constant for about 40,000 banknotes (based on serial number) (sometimes up to 120,000). The right letter changes after about 1-2 million banknotes. Therefore, these letters are helping printers to track a defective lot of banknotes.